Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Newsweek: Should Funding go to Disabled or Gifted?

I have twice exceptional kids, so I feel for parents who see the needs of their learning disabled not being met, as well as those parents who have gifted kids not being challenged.

I like this first article since it is from a mother's point of view of questioning the funding and programs for both her autistic son and her gifted daughter. I also find the comments below the article quite telling.

Recently, I came across a Time article from 1937 questioning "fast learners," the "mentally gifted," and the "lack of attention" when compared to "the feeble-minded." So the issue is an old one, and I wonder what can we as parents to actually move this country's education system to be at least fair with funding.

Perhaps, with the economy as it is, this isn't the time to push for public gifted education, but if not now, when? How many more decades need to go by?

Newsweek: Autism and Education

1937 Time: Fast Learners

I really dislike discussions framing the situation in this light, because the obvious answer is "both!"

I always prefer whatever can be done cheaply to help kids at both ends of the Bell Curve. Too often schools think spending money is the only answer to any problem, and so they don't think creatively about ways to help kids. I'd like more cheap, creative solutions at both ends of the curve.

That's my answer and I'm sticking to it!

I certainly don't believe in "either or" but both as well. My feeling is that extremes on both ends of the spectrum are in a sense "disabilities" I know that isn't the best term to use, but a child with asynchronous development on either end, is going to make learning difficult and needs to have support. Whether a child is in a class with a 50 IQ or a 150 IQ, if the class is being taught towards the 100 IQ there is going to be some difficulties. I do feel in a sense however, that more support should be with the extremes. That just makes sense to me. Ideally if there is tons of money to go around, help everyone out...LOL. I think it is completely ridiculous that there is no mandated gifted programming or funding in all states. How sad.

Coming from a state at the top of the "best schools" list to a state at the bottom, it would be nice to see funds go to education in general, for all kids.

Completely agree w/you Shelly very well put!

GA has a mandated program and full funding, but trying to get your child tested to be in the programs is absolutely ridiculous.

I was recently told by a teacher in our district that here, unless you're at the top or the bottom, you fall between the crack. For kids in the AP Honors or Honors track, if an assignment is not turned in, you get a phone call the next day. Same for kids at the bottom. But if you're in the middle, no phone calls. I know this happened to my neighbor. Her son was failing and never a word from the teacher. WHen asked why the teacher didn't send a note, email or call, the teacher said "That's not my job. I don't have time for that." Now this is a 9th grader and they should be more independent but if the child continues to not do work etc, I think a parent should be notified. I thought that was the teacher's job?

This is why I love digital gradebooks. (We use Powerschool) Some teachers hate them but when I was teaching full-time, it was perfect! Parents get a private password and everything is online in real time. So if your kid didn't do homework? You can see it that night. Your kid failed the test? You can see it instantly. I resolved so many debates by saying "Did you check online?" Even in our relatively poor school district, every single parent had an email address that could be notified when a child skipped school or dropped below a certain grade point (set by the parents!)


How about just plain old teaching? At our *hopefully* new school, the teachers were stunned that my K DS was not allowed to move up for reading and math at his current school. One teacher put it really well "Why would I want to reinvent the wheel when the 2nd grade teacher already knows how to teach that?"

In most cases, fluidity is pretty darned cheap! Someone else is already doing that somewhere... harnessing it is cheaper than making it new.

CAMom - our district is now using a similar system this year so that should alleviate some of these issues.

YES!!! I like how you think! And that fluidity costs how much extra? Um, nothing extra, at least in 99.9% of the cases, right?

*sigh*